Apple Begins Shipping LG UltraFine 4K Displays

A day after the first 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pros with Touch Bars began preparing for shipment to customers, Apple and LG's UltraFine 4K Display has begun shipping. Shipments are expected to arrive next week, with one MacRumors forum member noting November 15 as their delivery date.

The 21.5-inch UltraFine 4K Display went up for pre-order at the same time as the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. At the time, deliveries were estimated to arrive on November 15 at the earliest. Current delivery estimates are quoted at 5 to 6 weeks.

Apple debuted the UltraFine Display at its MacBook Pro event last month in 4K and 5K variations. While the 4K display has been available for pre-order since the event, the 5K display is not yet available. The Cupertino company said it partnered with LG to develop the displays specifically for the new MacBook Pro, with Apple making sure that the displays are optimized for its products. Shortly after announcing the displays, Apple confirmed it was out of the standalone display business.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar can power either one 5K UltraFine display or two 4K UltraFine displays, while the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar can power either two 5K displays or four 4K displays. Additionally, both displays include three downstream USB-C ports and can charge a MacBook Pro over the same cable that carries the video and data signals.

In early November, Apple dropped the prices of both displays in an effort to smooth the transition for new MacBook Pro owners. The move was combined with price drops for all of Apple's USB-C adapters. The 27-inch 5K UltraFine display is now $974, a $325 price cut from the original price of $1,299. The 4K UltraFine display is now $524, a $175 price cut from the original price of $699. The lowered prices are only available until the end of the year.

Top Rated Comments

Is it the right business decision? Probably. Is it the right Apple decision? No. The Apple you know is over. They cannot keep thriving and producing double digit growth from where they stand if they try to grow an even larger base of people who pay $1700 for a display. That would be like Ferrari hoping to be Ford.

The current Apple leaders want the company to be Ford. Their focus is gone. They're in a game of me-too technocracy. So there you are.

I really want to buy the 5k as I love the deep integration, color gamut, and simple cables.

But this is so ugly. And the details are wrong. The forehead. The rear Power plus is in odd location off-center so cable drops down side versus behind the support pole. The thick tick support tube and ugly base. And the cheap plastic. So much for caring about the environment.

Clearly this deal was last minute by Apple and rushed by LG. It's why there are no pre-orders. it's still in the labs. I just hope there aren't quality issues due to the rush.

Apple needs to remember pros care about the aesthetic of their environment. They should have insisted on a better case, or even better, had Jon's team design something.

My dream is LG fixes the case and we see a new form factor before launch. I'll buy two if they clean up the form factor.

It shows that it is all about the $ now completely. At apple, does anyone use and external monitor? Would these monitors line up Apples "all Apple" type of ecosystem, especially in their Campus? Apple use to be into the "look" of things and everything being in synergy. They made apple brand mouses, keyboards etc. just so everything is in synergy for the inclusive experience. They use to make the products for themselves (or at least that is what they use to say).

Jony is all about design over form which is ok (that is what he prefers). Because they cannot get their margins on a monitor they stop making a monitor?, that sounds more like a company that is solely "bean counting" which now the New Apple (its ok I guess - it made them where they are today). Again, like I have said before, if a company's vision is that, it is ok (as most have to be to stay in business) but apple does not need to operate now like this.

It shows that management does not use their products much besides for just photos of their grandkids, surfing the internet and "bean counting" spread sheets (probably now use Excel). I suspect that they only use an iPhone and the the new underpowered MacBook because that is all they need. I would love to know what tech gear they actually now use personally.

When Steve Jobs worked with Pixar the Mac Pro was important...why? because he was hanging around those that do creative stuff and wanted them to use Apple stuff. When watching "Toy Story" being created, he probably hated to watch it on a windows XP machine or a Dell or Samsung (ugly at the time) monitor. The Cinema Display was born with the all black edge, giving it a "Cinema feel"...thus the name. With an Apple silver on Black logo on the bottom middle while "His" collaborated movie creation seen above. A beautiful thing... (My thoughts of course). I own the expensive thunderbolt monitor and before the Cinema monitor also.

Now...ugly experience...

The Mac Pro and the Mini excelled when Jobs was around because....he hung around creative content developers who said, This is what we need to do your dreams Steve (i.e. animation stuff). So..Mac Pro had to be a power house to process animation and video...and a Apple monitor to be seen on so it did not drive jobs crazy seeing his creation on nothing less...

I really want to buy the 5k as I love the deep integration, color gamut, and simple cables.

But this is so ugly. And the details are wrong. The forehead. The rear Power plus is in odd location off-center so cable drops down side versus behind the support pole. The thick tick support tube and ugly base. And the cheap plastic. So much for caring about the environment.

Clearly this deal was last minute by Apple and rushed by LG. It's why there are no pre-orders. it's still in the labs. I just hope there aren't quality issues due to the rush.

Apple needs to remember pros care about the aesthetic of their environment. They should have insisted on a better case, or even better, had Jon's team design something.

My dream is LG fixes the case and we see a new form factor before launch. I'll buy two if they clean up the form factor.

I love it how these displays offer so many legacy ports so you don't need to buy a heap of extra dongles.
What, they only give you more USB-C ports? Oh....

I had the same thought at the keynote. If I was at apple, I'd release an apple display with legacy ports. It would drive sales of the display, lessen the dongle backlash, and was a customer friendly option for pros. Sure, it would slow adoption of USB-c, but it's a bridge for pros, and wouldn't slow down mass market if you sold the display for 1500 bucks.

Plus, who wants to plug their beautiful, now more expensive MacBook Pro into this fugly display. It doesn't match, and the display is ugly as sin.

I hate when people say, Steve wouldn't have done this. Steve made lots of mistakes.

But this is a safe bet. Steve would have made LG come up with a better case to pair with Jony's design. Tim's a good guy, clearly, but he is the Steve Balmer of Apple.

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